Pappy's Last Show Ever, Scunthorpe

PR

In 1973, David Bowie announced his retirement from rock music, only to spend 40 years showing he'd been talking out of his loon-panted arse. It looks like reports of the demise of raucous sketch trio Pappy's will prove to be similarly exaggerated. This may be billed as their Last Show Ever, but based on the response it received at last month's Edinburgh fringe – including a nomination for the main comedy award – there's clearly an appetite for more among their admirers. Where Pappy's have always excelled is in matching original and imaginative ideas to a boisterous party atmosphere that can make their performances seem more like a rock gig than a sketch show. The trio of Matthew Crosby (bespectacled, slightly teacher-ish), Tom Parry (overgrown child, both physically and mentally) and Ben Clark (ginger, always most likely to start giggling in the middle of a sketch) have long made for a compelling combination, and it's TV's loss that it hasn't yet found the right place for them. For now, at least we can continue to enjoy them on the live stage, and there are few acts that look more at home there.

Heslam Park Rugby Club, Fri; touring to 30 Nov

Tim Key: The Masterslut, On tour

PR

Tim Key can claim to be one of the most influential performers of the last decade. Cast your eye over the list of nominees for awards at this year's fringe, and you see act after act that owes something to Key's innovations. The oblique, leftfield and multimedia-heavy stylings of exciting, critically acclaimed acts such as Claudia O'Doherty, David Trent and Sam Fletcher all point towards a promising, creatively dynamic future for UK comedy, and they're all standing on the shoulders of Key's previous work. Having won the Fosters comedy award for his 2009 show The Slutcracker, he's now touring the follow-up. It's a heady mix of offbeat physical comedy and Key's trademark bad poetry (made famous on Screenwipe). Dense with well-developed ideas, this is a stage show you may need to see twice in order to take it all in.

Stonewall Comedy Gala Presents: Girls Night Out, London

Zoe Lyons. Photograph: Steve Ullathorne

You might have hoped that the comedy circuit would be a haven for equal opportunities, but many clubs still seem unnecessarily frightened of booking female comics. Even when they do, you'll rarely get more than one in the course of an evening, as if women are a novelty that needs to be strictly rationed (by the way, did you know that in 11 series, there's never been more than one woman in any episode of Mock The Week?). The lineup of Girls Night Out, a charity gig in aid of Stonewall's Education For All campaign against homophobic bullying, challenges the norm, showcasing female comics who are more than up to the fighting weight of their male counterparts. Expect to see the cheerfully intolerant Zoe Lyons, the spiky social commentary of Susan Calman, plus a set from the brilliantly filthy Sarah Millican, the female stand-up that even sexists are allowed to like.